GP is suspended for three months for smacking hand of patient with dementia

A GP who smacked the hand of a 96 year old woman with dementia and said “don’t you hit me” after she became aggressive has been suspended for three months by a medical practitioners tribunal.

In October 2014 Gary Simpson, 58, visited the 1.4 m tall patient at Stocks Hall Nursing Home near Ormskirk, Lancashire, because of a suspected chest infection. But she was suspicious and hostile, saying that she would hit him.

The tribunal, after hearing evidence from two staff who were present at the incident, found that during the confrontation Simpson pointed in the woman’s face and said “don’t you hit …